Understanding God's Plan and Our Role

We are God's creation.

Paul talks about something amazing regarding God. He says:

"Whom (God) foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." (Romans 8:29-30).

What stands out here is that Paul sees everything as already done. He uses past tense. All these things happened before time began.

But how is that possible? God says:

"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?" (Jeremiah 32:27).

Is there anything too tough for God? Absolutely not.

Have you thought about how God can talk to billions of people about different things at once without any mix-up? Have you wondered how God can be everywhere all at once? Have you thought about how God knows the past, present, and future? How can He know everything from eternity?

Stop wondering. That’s what makes God, God.

If you read something about God in the Bible that doesn’t make sense, know that it’s true. The fact that it puzzles you shows its divine nature. Everything about God goes beyond human understanding. God doesn’t come to us through human logic. So, with God, don’t rely on your own understanding. Trust God by faith. He is the God of the impossible.

Carrying God

Can you picture a woman carrying Jesus in her belly for nine months? That was Mary’s blessing. How would she have felt? Her pregnancy must have been full of praise and joy. One remarkable thing about Mary in the Bible is that:

"(She) kept all these things in her heart." (Luke 2:51).

But what about you and me? Don’t you know we are also carriers of God? Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. How do you feel about having the Holy Spirit living in you? How do you handle this relationship? Do you worship constantly? How often do you pray and praise the God in you?

When we say the grace, we ask to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That prayer has already been answered. Christ is in us, the hope of glory. So, what are we doing with it?

God is in us and around us. He has been our home through all generations. In God, we live, move, and exist. The God in us is greater than all the demons in the world. This is truly amazing. It gives us so much confidence and assurance.

Human Nature

But humans are often careless. We cannot take credit for anything we do. If we achieve anything, it is because God helps us. Without Him, we can do nothing. Jesus calls us unworthy servants. He says:

"When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’" (Luke 17:10).

Without Jesus, we can do nothing. We can only do what we were meant to do.

Jesus says:

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things." (Matthew 12:33-35).

Who makes the good tree good? God does. Who makes the bad tree bad? God! He is the creator of everything.

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1).

The believer is God’s property and dwelling place.

Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

We do not belong to ourselves. We cannot say whatever we want. Our words are not ours. The psalmist prays:

"May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things, who have said, ‘With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?’" (Psalm 12:3-4).

We did not create ourselves. God created us.

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. (Psalms 100:3).

None of us lives for ourselves, and no one dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:7-9).

If One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

We can only have what we have received. We can only be what God made us to be.

But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. (Isaiah 64:8).

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the Lord. "Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!" (Jeremiah 18:5-7).

Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour? (Romans 9:20-21).

God’s Plan and Our Work

We are God’s creation, made in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared for us to do. We were chosen to be who we are from the beginning. We did not choose our parents. We did not choose the shape of our noses. We did not choose our height. What makes us think we can decide who we are? God decides everything about each one of us.

God’s knowledge is the source of the Holy Scriptures. It shows His wisdom and control over all creation.

God says:

"Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it." (Isaiah 46:9-11).

From today, people of God, let the knowledge of God’s plan be our confidence. We are in the Hands of God, who works everything for our good.

In Him also we have received an inheritance, being chosen according to the purpose of Him who works everything according to His will. (Ephesians 1:11).

For it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13).